Category Archives: SAXON

Musically, we are treated to a band at the peak of their powers…At times, particularly on the first CD the interplay between the band is brilliant…a good well packaged release giving more than just a snapshot of a short lived band on fire.

…for a time in the early ’80s, they moved the metallic hordes, Donnington 1980…was their performance peak and 20 years on, Wheels of Steel remains a lost AC-DC creaming classic

Q, January 2000

…when they break into tracks from ‘Wheels of Steel’ the heat is really turned up…Sleevenotes from the band make interesting reading, and are a welcome addition to the entire live set here. “Still Fit To Boogie”, that’s Saxon alright.

Joe Geesin, Record Collector (January 2000)

…this is mainly for heavy metal freaks though you can’t be helped be taken along by their fierce rhythm section…

Zabadak, October 2000

…If you were there it’s a souvenir to treasure! If you weren’t it’s a reminder of what the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was all about…

Andy Coleman, Birmingham Evening Mail, 11.1.00

…’Still Fit To Boogie’ and ‘Backs To The Wall’ are delivered with typical bare-knuckled bluster, while ‘Wheels Of Steel’ and ’747 (Strangers In The Night’)are simply colossal tunes…

Dave Ling, Classic Rock, January 2000

…you can almost smell the mud, hot dogs and tobacco as well as feel the pure magic of the day

Donington’s ‘Monsters Of Rock 1980 was a great happening and also a very interesting one, as it featured as line-up the following bands: RAINBOW, JUDAS PRIEST, SCORPIONS, APRIL WINE, RIOT, TOUCH (this was incredible, because in 1979 they released their only album, a Classic in AOR/Pomp history and they were put on a festival consisting of only Metal bands, I would be very interested in a hearing how that sounded!) and of course SAXON!

SAXON’s live recording has been released by ANGEL AIR RECORDS, so you can hear how it all went down there, and I must say that later live recordings/concerts of SAXON sounded better, but that’s easy to understand, because SAXON had just started back then. Anyway, the crowd loved the band already and so the 9 songs they played were received very well. Any SAXON fan must own this, as this is a unique performance of a Classic Hardrockband at a legendary festival! (Points: 8.0 out of 10)